Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show speaking about the release of Emma, Darren Young and Summer Rae from WWE. Throughout his lengthy wrestling career Taz encountered some people who weren’t fond of him, and there were other individuals who Taz wasn’t a fan of. In spite of all of that, he never enjoyed seeing those people get released and lose their jobs. It’s never a good day when someone loses their employment.

He assumes that these releases were made in an effort to cut costs as he has heard that WWE plans to cut even more costs as we head into 2018. In spite of what some might think WWE doesn’t have an endless budget, and these releases were probably necessary in order to maintain their talent budget.

He points out that Darren Young and Summer Rae have been off of WWE programming for several months now but Emma has been highlighted in major storylines and just wrestled Asuka on TLC. Emma’s release really surprised Taz because WWE has been semi-pushing Emma and even gave her plenty of offence in her loss to Asuka at TLC.

The post The Taz Show Recap – Thoughts on WWE Releases, Lio Rush Makes A Huge Error, Samoa Joe to Join Team RAW? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Edge & Christian open today’s show speaking about last Sunday’s TLC PPV.

Christian thought it was good that there was only one TLC match on the show, because if you have three or four of those matches on the same show the fans grow weary of it by the end of the night. Christian thought the show was pretty good but it didn’t ‘blow his socks off’.

Edge says that he just doesn’t get the fascination surrounding Asuka, but he thought Emma had a great showing on this night. Christian points out that when there’s that much hype surrounding a performer it becomes nearly impossible for the performer to live up to people’s expectations. Nonetheless, he thought Asuka’s presentation and facial expressions were good.

Edge couldn’t comprehend how Asuka, Emma and that match’s Producer thought it was good idea to utilize an ankle lock in that match when Hall of Famer, Kurt Angle was making his long-awaited return to the ring in the main event later in the show. This is a sign to Edge that someone just doesn’t have a mind for the business.

Christian says he really enjoyed the Elias segments. Edge agrees and points out that Elias is a throwback to Honky Tonk Man and Jeff Jarrett in his ability to get heat through his music gimmick. Edge and Christian both agree that Alexa Bliss and Mickie James had a good match, and they add that Mickie James is a great babyface while Bliss is a really good heel.

The post E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness Recap w/ Sami Zayn – TLC Thoughts, Transitioning Into A Heel, Friendly Rivalry With Kevin Owens, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

When Roman Reigns was not in condition to compete at this past Sunday’s WWE TLC event, many speculated that Brock Lesnar would be called by the WWE to replace Reigns in the match, according to reports from Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The reason why Lesnar was expected as the replacement was because he attended college in Minneapolis and is considered Minneapolis’ hometown star. Despite this, according to sources Lesnar was never contacted.

Another replacement that was needed at the WWE TLC PPV was for the Finn Balor match. It is not known how many names were considered before settling on AJ Styles, but one star that was contacted for taking Bray Wyatt’s spot was Chris Jericho. Jericho was unavailable for an appearance for the event because he is right now on a tour with his band Fozzy.

The post Who WWE Contacted & Didn’t Contact as TLC Replacements appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

X-Pac opens today’s show by speaking about his friend Jeff Jarrett, who appears to be going through a rough patch right now. Video surfaced of Jarrett wrestling intoxicated over the weekend and X-Pac knows that he must really be struggling with something, because he’s a complete professional who grew up and lived his entire life in this business. He hopes that Jarrett gets some help and is able to rebound from this rather quickly.

He points out that while the promoter of this show was put in an awkward position by Jarrett, if someone would have gotten hurt due to Jarrett’s inebriation, that would have been on the promoter for letting Jarrett get in the ring in the first place. X-Pac believes that if a performer shows up to an event intoxicated, they should be immediately sent home.

X-Pac gets into his analysis of Sunday’s TLC event.

To begin, he mentions that it was great to see Kurt Angle return to a WWE ring after 11 years away from the company. Some people criticized the fact that Angle was cleared for this match last minute, even though WWE still won’t allow Daniel Bryan to wrestle, but X-Pac points out that Angle’s situation is very different than Bryan’s.

The post X-Pac 1, 2, 360 Recap – TLC Analysis, Jeff Jarrett Enters Rehab, Did The Rock Encourage Nia Jax to Leave WWE? More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Lawler is joined on today’s show by his co-host Glenn Moore.

Lawler mentions that the current Meningitis outbreak in WWE is very unfortunate. He assumes that someone picked up a bug during one of the recent overseas tours and now it has spread through the locker room. He mentions that none of the commentators have come down with the illness as of yet which is great, but Lawler was still wondering if he’d get a call at the last minute to commentate on the TLC PPV or to work the kickoff show.

Speaking of Kurt Angle’s return to a WWE ring, Lawler thought Angle did a terrific job and commends him on jumping into that spot at the last minute in order to give the WWE Universe something special. Lawler recalls driving from an indie show with Angle roughly a year ago and Angle was expressing his desire to return to a WWE ring even then, so it was great to see him live out that dream Sunday night.

Lawler mentions that some people may have been critical of that main event and all the gimmicks and antics that it included, but he points out that WWE’s goal is always to send the fans home happy. After having to adjust the two big matches on the TLC card, WWE found a way to deliver and send their fans home happy.

The post Dinner With the King Recap – WWE’s Sickness Issues, Angle’s Return to the Ring, Relationship with Vince McMahon, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Michael Cole provided an “update” on Braun Strowman status during tonight’s episode of RAW and mentioned that Strowman could be out of action for “weeks or even months” after being crushed in the back of a garbage truck at Sunday’s WWE TLC event.

Strowman is of course fine and was backstage at RAW.

The post Storyline Update on Braun Strowman’s WWE Status appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Block 1:

Taz opens today’s show by diving right into his analysis of last night’s TLC PPV. He says that he wasn’t overly fond of his show, even though all the talents worked hard.

He says he would have preferred if Kurt Angle would have respectfully denied the vest when Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose offered it to him. Taz would have liked if Angle would have said something like, “Thanks, but I think I’ll wear this on my chest instead”, as he pulled out his gold medals. Taz thinks a huge part of Angle’s return is seeing Angle in all his glory, with his own theme music and wearing his singlet.

Taz thought that Elias and Jason Jordan were put in a rough spot last night, working in between Styles/Balor and the TLC main event. He thought Elias’ initial segment was repeated later in the show because McMahon was so mad at how bad it was the first time. After watching it unfold exactly the same the second time around Taz realized that his opinion was wrong in that case.

He also believes that the finish to the Elias/Jordan match was botched. He says that while WWE sometimes books controversial finishes, this finish didn’t look that way to him. If it was supposed to be a controversial finish, Elias kicked out way too early prior to the 3-count.

The post The Taz Show Recap – TLC Analysis, Angle Joins The Shield, Asuka Remains Undefeated, More! appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

Photo: Twitter

Updated WWE TLC Betting Odds

WWE TLC is tonight, and since we haven’t heard anything more about people being pulled off of the show due to illness, it looks like the card is set. The betting odds aren’t really moving much, either. Asuka is still a heavy favorite to win her main roster debut match, and the main event odds have shifted down slightly in favor of Kurt Angle and the RAW Tag Team Champions.

Just a reminder, the minus indicates the favorite and the plus is for the underdog. The number after the plus or minus tells us how favored or unfavored the competitors are.

TLC Handicap Match
Kurt Angle, Dean Ambrose, & Seth Rollins -380 vs The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, & Kane +260.

The Demon -210 vs AJ Styles +210.

WWE RAW Women’s Title
Alexa Bliss -270 vs Mickie James +190.

WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Kalisto +260 vs Enzo Amore -380.

Asuka -2750 vs Emma +1250.

Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann -130 vs The Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher -110.

Sasha Banks -350 vs Alicia Fox +250.

Kevin Owens On His WWE Universal Title Run

During a recent appearance on Edge & Christian’s Pod Of Awesomeness, Kevin Owens talked about his WWE Universal Title win and reign. It didn’t work out exactly like he thought it would.

“To me, I thought that was it. I’m like, ‘alright, I’m the Universal Champion, so, clearly, this was going to, like, solidify me as the top guy that I’ve always wanted to be.’ But I don’t think it really did. It didn’t turn out to be what I was hoping. Like, it didn’t turn out to be this thing that would make me a top guy, the way like I felt that it would.”

The post Updated WWE TLC Betting Odds; Kevin Owens On His WWE Universal Title Run appeared first on TopRopePress.com – Wrestling News, WWE News, TNA News, Wrestling Results.

The Miz took to Twitter to react to the news of Kurt Angle replacing Roman Reigns at Sunday’s WWE TLC event. Miz mentioned that he left behind a certain SmackDown General Manager (Daniel Bryan) “looking for glory,” but on Sunday, the spotlight will stay on Miz.

I bring the #ICTitle from #SDLive to #Raw to bring prestige to the red brand. Did I find opportunity? No. Did I find respect? No. …

— The Miz (@mikethemiz) October 21, 2017

I found another GM who is looking for glory and trying to take away MY spotlight. Sorry, Kurt Angle, but the main event of #WWETLC is mine.

— The Miz (@mikethemiz) October 21, 2017

The post The Miz Accuses Kurt Angle of Trying to Steal the Spotlight appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.

WWE announced earlier today that that Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns have been pulled from the WWE TLC event this Sunday in Minneapolis. Kurt Angle will be replacing Roman Reigns and AJ Styles will be replacing Bray Wyatt.

Kurt Angle took to his Instagram account to react replacing Roman Reigns at Sunday’s event. He wrote, “Is it true??? Oh It’s damn true! Your Olympic Hero will be wrestling along side of The Shield at #TLC this Sunday. Be sure to watch. #yourolympicheroisback”

Is it true??? Oh It's damn true! Your Olympic Hero will be wrestling along side of The Shield at #TLC this Sunday. Be sure to watch. #yourolympicheroisback

A post shared by Kurt Angle (@therealkurtangle) on Oct 20, 2017 at 1:24pm PDT

The post Kurt Angle Reacts to In-Ring Return at Sunday’s WWE TLC Event appeared first on Wrestling News & WWE News, Rumors & Spoilers.